Cisco beats rivals in 10G switch test scores

Cisco came out tops in a Network World Clear Choice Test of 10G switches against gear from ProCurve, Extreme, Foundry, Alcatel-Lucent, Dell and D-Link (named in the order of their products' test scores). By far the most expensive switch tested - the Cisco Catalyst 3750E-48PD-EF Series Switch is priced* at $33,980 compared to ProCurve's Switch 3500yl. which at $16,096 is the next most expensive. However, the testers praised the Catalyst switch's "very extensive feature set; strong multicast scalability and performance." Its con was that the switch forwarded unauthenticated data in one 802.1X case.

See the package of test articles here that detail how each switch coped in 10 test areas, encompassing  L2 and L3 IPv4 unicast and multicast performance, L2 multicast group capacity, 802.1X/NAC support, storm control, management and usability, power consumption, and features.

* Price is for switch with at least 48 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, 2 10Gig ethernet ports, two 10Gbase-SR transceivers, plus all necessary software for ipv4 and ipv6 unicast and multicast traffic handling.

At which point do Cisco's high prices begin turning you off its products?

Compare more access switches in Network World's buyers' guide

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• Cisco
• Alcatel-Lucent
• Cisco Catalyst
• Cisco Catalyst 3750E-48PD-EF Series Switch
• D-Link
• Dell
• Extreme
• Foundry
• ProCurve